Fostering sustainable tourism in Pakistan: Exploring the influence of environmental leadership on employees' green behavior

This study addresses a critical gap in the theory by exploring the impact of Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership (ESSL) on Employees' Voluntary Green Behavior (EVGB) within the dynamic framework of Pakistan's tourism industry. It also advances understanding by investigating the pivotal mediating roles of Psychological Green Climate (PGC) and Green Commitment (GC) in the relationship between ESSL and EVGB. Drawing upon the principles of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Social Identity theory (SIT) we designed the research framework and collected data from employees working in various firms in Pakistan's tourism sector. We employed a multistage (phase I-convenience; phase II purposive) sampling technique to gather data from 492 employees representing various small and medium-sized Hotels, Restaurants, and Catering firms within the hospitality and tourism sector. The collected data underwent validation and analysis using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in SPSS AMOS and was further examined through the Andrew Hayes Process Macro model 4. The findings reveal a significant role of ESSL in fostering EVGB. Furthermore, our findings highlighted the significant mediating roles of PGC and GC in the relationship between ESSL-EVGB. These findings underscore the potential effectiveness of promoting environmental sustainability as a means to encourage environmentally responsible behavior among individuals working in the tourism sector. The implications of our findings are particularly noteworthy for the tourism and hospitality sector. Companies in such industry can leverage ESSL as a valuable tool for inspiring green behavior in their staff, emphasizing both environmental responsibility and service to others as key drivers of environmentally friendly actions.